Tuesday 28 August 2012

My fathers pocket

The challenge at Three Muses this week is the word 'Masculine'.  Whilst considering what to do for this challenge I started to think about my father.  When I was little he would give me pocket money on Saturday morning and then take me to the local shops, usually the toy shop, for me to spend it.
Before we set out he would clear out his pocket so that I could put my precious pocket money in a safe place.

I decided to make a tag for the challenge this week, one that would represent the types of things that my father kept in his pocket.  I don't think it gets any more masculine than that :)
In my fathers pocket


No photographs were harmed in the making of this piece :)

Monday 27 August 2012

Clock Watching

When I saw that the Take A Word challenge for next week was going to be 'Clocks' I immediately knew what I was going to do, until I started to make it.  I didn't like how it was going , so it was dispatched to the recycle bin and I began again, and so happy I did.  The results of my second effort are below :)
If you would like to see a time lapse video, you can see it on YouTube by clicking here.  (I'm only just learning how to record and edit videos, so please be kind :)


Time Flies when I'm having fun

I enjoyed playing with this one, I even got to include some polymer clay for the arms!  If you look closely there is a tiny 'diamond' ring on the 4th finger of the right hand :)



The piece is made of very heavy weight card stock, sprayed with Dylusion Inks and than stamped in many layers with Archival Inks.  The outer clock is from white card stock, dry embossed with a clock and gears design and then painted with Lumiere Halo Blue Gold, then the high points rubbed with Golden Iridescent Bronze.  The arms were from a fairy mold, and the other bits and pieces were ephemera from my stash.

Saturday 25 August 2012

My Heavy Metal Band

In mid-July I entered my first ever ATC swap with the theme of 'metal.  The swap has now been completed and I can post my cards on the blog.
Metal ATC Swap
We only had to send one card but I decided to make four in total of which I sent two.  The cards I sent were 'Gold' and 'Iron'.  The base is Neenah white card stock, rubbed with Distress Ink in Pumice and Rust then splashed with water.  The letters are chipboard and coated in various embossing enamels or iron filings, before being adhered to the card stock.  The card stock was then glued to mat board to give them a sturdy feel and to add to the visual strength.


The Rust ATC is intentionally coloured in the opposite of the other three cards.  I really love these as a set and am thinking of remaking the two I sent out and framing them for my wall.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Shades of Grey?

For the Three Muses challenge this week we were invited to do something with Black, White and a touch of....

I decided to use a touch of love, since I'm making this for my daughter.
Starting with a white IKEA box and using drawing pens 01, 03 and 05 I began to Zentangle (doodle) on all sides and lid of the box.

Altered IKEA box - Zentangle
I couldn't believe how long this piece took to create.  The lid alone was over 4 hours, but maybe I'm just slow.



I followed an almost organic theme, with seeds, flowers, roots, leaves and branches coupled with the usual zentangle doodles.
Box Lid
You can see the video of some of the lid being drawn and the completed box in close up at YouTube

Home Sweet Home

The challenge this week at Take A Word  is 'Tattered'.

I had visions of an old stately home, that was beyond it's best, with  vestiges of former grandeur still visible but now on the tattered side.  I set about trying to recreate my vision in mixed media.
Home Sweet Home


The face image is from Stampers Anonymous coloured with Inktensils and Promarkers, with a light crackle applied.  The coloured 'fabric' is Claudine Hellmuth sticky backed canvas rubbed and stamped with various Distress Inks before spraying with water. Blue distressed paper was stamped with a french blue chandelier and clear embossed before being layered onto silver mirri card, to give the sense of a mirror reflecting into the room.

Back ground card stock was clear embossed before applying a weak wash of Tattered Rose distress ink and drying, then re-dipping.

The lace was white but dyed with Walnut stain distress ink and then quickly rinsed in clear water to fade it.


Saturday 18 August 2012

Fly me to the moon

Last week we went to visit Salisbury and while there, decided to look at the Cathedral.  As I was admiring the stained glass window, I saw the perfect image for the 'Take a Word' challenge for this week - Wings.
I did this postcard size piece for the challenge, but have other ideas in mind for this image from the window.
Wings of Steel
The paint I used as the basic background is Halo Pink Gold by Lumiere, which is beautiful in real life but terribly difficult for me to photograph.   On top of the pink gold, I stamped feathers in Archival Brown, and dragonfly and a small swirl in Archival Magenta.  The wings of the little man are coated with a clear glaze pen by Sakura.  there are other squiggles done with various colours of Sakura glaze pen too.
Wings of Steel close-up

I am just editing a video I took of this being made and I'll post a link here as soon as it's up.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Box 533 is leaving the station!

I have been thinking for a while that I would like to make a YouTube video and decided that I would make a rusty box to show the rust technique.  This is my first video and I should have chosen something simpler!

The video was originally over 1.5 hours but with some editing and pruning (thanks Cpt Slow) it's now down to a manageable 11 minutes.  This is all completely spontaneous, and other than knowing I was making a rusty box, the rest of the design hadn't formed before I started (another lesson for next time)

Here is what I made:
Small Rusty Box No. 533
It really reminds me of part of a train :)
It is quite odd, seeing myself working for the first time.  Feel free to smile and laugh.


You can also view it on YouTube



Tuesday 14 August 2012

Finding Nemo, or other random bits

A few weeks ago I entered an ATC swap with the theme of maps ( at the Willowing site.)  I thought of many concepts from mind maps, phrenology, treasure maps, undergrounds maps, it just went on and on.  I finally decided that the theme from me evoked images of pirate treasure and the days of sailing ships. My partner for the swap has now received the cards so I thought I would share on here.
We had to produce two ATCs that were in similar style but not exactly the same.  My first card was titled 'Lost at Sea'.
Lost at Sea
I used Neenah white card stock and stamped it with an old map in Sepia Archival Ink.  I then brushed Antique Linen distress ink over the whole front of the card.  And finally stamped the splatter stamp also in sepia colour, to make it even more distressed.
The shells are Paua fragments, the starfish is a metal embellishment I covered in brownish paint.  The net is made from muslin, I dyed with Forest Moss distress Ink.
Lost at Sea close-up

The second card I think I called 'Treasure Haul.'  The same treatment for the map and the net but instead of sea life and shells I attached what is meant to look like treasure: gold mica flakes, coins of various types, some sparkly bling bits in blue and diamante.  I finished it off with a length of chain and some small keys.
Treasure Haul
A much better photo of the 'treasure'
I really must do something about either my photography or my camera, things are so much better when you can see them correctly.

Monday 13 August 2012

Tickled by a feather

A few days ago I was looking through my stamps and saw the "Feather" set from Hero arts that I've never used.  I took it out and left it on the edge of my craft table.  Today while I was cleaning up my craft mat, I decided I would make a card with it.
The reason I gave up card making was because I would agonise about the design for hours, but today felt different and it was - the card was made in 10 minutes, and it's clean and simple!!
Very Clean and Simple Card
I stamped the feather in Versamark ink on Neenah white card stock and then dusted with bonding powder.  Starting with a hot heat gun I very quickly heated the bonding powder until it just changed shade (too long and the adhesive properties diminish).
I applied some Jones Tones foil in a peacock type colour range which has also been in my stash for years.  Rubbed over the top gently with the bone folder and pulled the backing away, voila!
Metallic shine from the foil
I mounted it on more Neenah white card stock that I coloured around the edges with Worn Lipstick distress inks.  The sentiment is from Indigo Blue Travel plate stamped in Archival Ink Deep Purple.
Adding some lilac polka dot ribbon to the mount card, I made a false bow on the front.
Take a peek inside
To finish it off inside I added a row of pen nib stamps from Indigo Blue in Magenta Hue.

I don't think I will ever have a need for this card so I will donate it to the Heart Foundation Card Drive.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Travelling Light

I was well ahead of myself for the Sunday Postcard Art this week in the theme of 'Travel'.  I worked out a design and created it yesterday.  When I woke up this morning and got ready to take a picture, it just didn't look like anything I would create.  It was so sombre and bland.  All kind of beige on beige if you can imagine that.
A new way of looking at things
I started again with the same basic concepts but got out some lovely colourful ink (Dylusions London Blue and Vibrant Turquoise.) And could not resist adding some colour to the Union Flag.

The tickets were stamped with an Indigo Blue plate called Travel on various coloured paper with various archival inks.  I then cut them to ticket shape and punched the little half circles using a single hole punch.  There is a ticket wrapped around the card at the top right hand side with a hole punched right through the card.
Steam punk Traveller
The steam punk traveller and the sentiment are stamped in StazOn Jet Black.  Steam punk man had his binoculars 'enhanced' with some bronze paint applied with the lid from a waterbrush.  And the reflection on his lenses is create with a white souffle pen.

Friday 10 August 2012

Fairies at the bottom of my garden?

I bought the Kate Crane DVD set 3 / 4 and decided to use a background technique she demonstrated.  Once I'd completed the background I realised I didn't have a clue what the page would be about.  I started playing around with various stamps and ended up using a toadstool stamp from the Dylusions range.  Having coloured and cut it out, I knew what else I needed - a fairy!
I'm not usually good with cutesy pictures so went on the hunt for a good image I could use.  Maybe a small vintage child image I could add wings...  I just couldn't find anything so in the end almost decided on yet another quirky drawing.
After several attempts I realised I couldn't draw a quirky fairy, because fairies are quirky.
Fairy in the forest
Instead I set about drawing what is part fairy, part pixie :)  Whatever she is, she's happy, and I like that.
I must buy some more Promarkers or Copic markers for these small faces / bodies.  trying to use heavy, gloopy paint just doesn't cut it.  Her wings have the tiniest touch of glitter, which you may just be able to see.
Just sitting on my toadstool feeling happy

Thursday 9 August 2012

My Pretty Summer Hair

I visited a website last night and they have a postcard challenge, and the topic for the week is 'Quirky'.  How could I resist?  I have never done a postcard size before, so this was something a little different.  It's a nice size to work with although I probably would have enjoyed this subject at any size.

As soon as I sat down to do the design I knew I wanted to use this months free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine, in fact I decided to use on the main image.

My Pretty Summer Hair done for Sunday Postcard Challenge (link below)
I used Dylusions Inks for the background and some Archival Inks for stamping.  The face is drawn on white coated paper and coloured with water soluble wax crayons.  The hair is this months freebie as mentioned above.
A close up of her very pretty hair :)

The Sunday Postcard blog is new to me but I will definitely be checking in there frequently.




Monday 6 August 2012

Technique Time

About a year ago I was very interested in card making and decided to take the Jennifer McGuire course called Inspiration Canvas.  It was a great class and I learned lots of techniques, with each being produced on a small heart along with an embellishment in many cases.
As soon as I had completed 80% of the hearts, I watched the rest of the videos, played with the techniques on paper and then gradually put everything away in a cupboard.

This weekend I took everything out of the cupboard and finally finished the canvas!  It's not exactly my style now but I'm glad I did it.  The techniques are still great and the canvas will be a prompt for alternative techniques for things I'm currently working on.

12" x 12" Inspiration Showcase canvas
While I was finalising the remaining hearts and attaching it to the canvas, I realised that I really don't like following what someone else has done.  I would probably have been happier attaching the hearts to swing tags and writing descriptions on the back, but didn't think about it early enough.
Various techniques including resist, dry embossing and stamping with paint
Stamping on canvas, painting with pearl, heat embossing, mica powder and rust techniques

Rosette and Canvas heart


Embossed canvas 

Various ink, stamp and embossing techniques.  'Create' is coated in Glossy Accents

I couldn't resist switching out one of Jennifer McGuire's techniques and replacing with one of my own - rust!















Wednesday 1 August 2012

I've been booked!

For weeks now I've been creating  a book and I finally finished it last night.  Except for the title plate which I want to make from metal, but will sort out later.
For now, here is my book which is to be titled 'Inspired'

Front Cover, the title will be 'Inspired"

The pages are made from mount board (usually used with frames).  The paper is Neenha solar white cardstock and I used a whole variety of Tim Holtz distress inks and Ranger Archival inks.
Time to Dance
Magic
Some of the backgrounds I stamped with paint, some I used water soluble wax crayons (I still don't know how that happens)
Being Good
This girl on this stamp reminds me of my sister, I have a couple that remind me of her.
I used a Hero Arts background stamp on this one and used Brilliance Moonlight White archival stamp pad from Tsukineko.  Leaves a lovely subtle image.
The page on the left is intentionally blank, I didn't want anything to detract from the right hand page.

Mr Phrenology Head

Rather than stamping him from the Stampers Anonymous stamp, I used the digital version and printed it from my computer on Neenah cardstock.  I coloured him with distress ink and then gave him a twinkle to his eye using a souffle pen

Rocket Scientist
There is only one page after this and that is the back cover, which is almost identical to the front cover.  The edges of the book have been painted with gold pen and the binding was done using a Zutter binder.
There's only one other picture to show....  the whole book!

Did I mention it was very small :)